Yes, fics that drag muggle stuff into them are boring to read at best and cringy at worst. But we're not talking about a fic, we're talking about you waking up to find you are eleven again and you are invited to Hogwarts/some other magical school as a muggleborn.

Do you stop watching muggle movies and tv shows? Will you still own a smartphone or a computer? Will you have anything to do with muggles beyond speaking with your relatives?

I can't see myself forgoing those things unless magical equivalents exist or are developed. I won't have much in the way of non-magical friends I think and probably won't socialise much with muggles because of how much a chore hiding magic would be, but I'd probably still consume muggle media and some muggle technologies.

I hate writing by hand so unless magical typewriters exist I will own a computer (assuming they even work around magical homes, though I don't recall in canon Harry or muggleborns mentioning technology breaking around them).

I'm an engineer by trade, but I doubt with magic around I'd continue that. I'd probably end up in research developing magical things if I can.

 

I mean, probably?

If I wake up as an 11 year old again, then phones are back to being T9 and calls, rather than browsing the web or playing games beyond snake. The internet is going to be slow, although a bit less consolidated than it is now.

Hogwarts is a boarding school, and I'd be there, what, nine/ten months a year? I'm not going to have time to catch up on all the muggle shows I'd miss during those months, especially as I still haven't got around to watching season 3+ of Buffy, and I've had 20 years; never mind all the more recent books and shows I'm behind on. Movies are different, because it's only two hours at a time, and I sort of feel that movies back tended to be more standalone, but are films about dragon riders and slaying goblins going to hold much interest, when I know that dragons are just particularly ornery horses, and goblins hold my money?

Also, pretty much my entire friendship group I have now is people I met in high school, university, or work. I'm in vague contact with one guy from primary, and that's it. I'd not have any muggle friends to talk to at the time, and most wizard friends wouldn't care too much about muggle things.

At Hogwarts, there'd be no way to use a phone or computer, short of setting up @"ard arrays to drain the energy with my triple-core wand", so I'd not actually be able to use a phone or computer for much, except maybe an expensive paperweight. If there's no reason why electrical stuff won't work around magic in general, then I might get one once I'm done at school, but I'd have spent years without one, and none of my wizard friends would either - my only contacts would be the best takeaway within apparition distance, family, and any other muggleborn/half-bloods that then picked up a phone too.

That said, after finishing Hogwarts, I might still consume muggle media - Lockhart's books show there's some market in the wizarding world for entertainment reading, but the muggle market is larger. Even if half of the decent stuff is now actually rubbish because it's too wrong in comparison to what I know, there's still probably more in Waterstones than in Diagon.

Also, a phone and computer might come in handy following Hogwarts, but I'd be so completely divorced from using them, I'd be finger-pecking, rather than touch-typing. That's not to say I couldn't gain computer literacy, but would I want to? I wouldn't have been so familiar with them at the time, and wouldn't need to use them for anything. Knowing what I know now, I'd probably want proficiency for entertainment, but if I don't need to use technology other than to pass my freetime, I'm probably going to try and find something else I can do with that time, especially if I'm more immersed in magical culture.

If it turns out muggleborns can't get jobs beyond 'shop assistant', and it pays really badly, then I'd probably try to find a way of re-entering the muggle workforce though, and the answer flips.

 

I'd give it all away for a sight of Hogwarts.

Still, muggle libraries are much larger and I'd probably follow a few sports that I enjoy.

So in conclusion, I'd treat the muggle world as a place to go on a field trip.

 

So you're saying I wake up at 11 with my current knowledge and skills, and an invite to Hogwarts?

I'd absolutely keep up with the muggle world, because it'd be ridiculously easy for a wizard with a cursory awareness of the muggle world to make a very comfortable living without ever risking breaching the statute of secrecy. Run a bar or restaurant with exceptionally low overheads thanks to things like the refilling charm, the ability to expand on existing food, and charms to encourage people to spend lavishly. Run a building merchants where you transfigure or conjure whatever orders people put in. Or just take your legilimency to a casino and have some fun (but not too much fun so you don't get banned).

I'd live with a foot in each world, no need to abandon either when they each have something to offer.

 

That would have to depend on whether my theories of the universe turn out to be correct or not, but probably I wouldn't have to care too much. I've developed a lot of habits relating to technology, but I'd probably give those up just to be able to use magic. Depending on more theories about how magic works, it wouldn't even make a difference and the electronics wouldn't be messed up if I were to cast spells on them.

 

Nah, I'd reap benefits from both worlds.

 

No, I probably wouldn't ignore the muggle world, at least not entirely. Like I would totally ignore indivudal muggles that aren't family or famly friends, but certain things are just too useful to give up. Like while my Iphone at 11 was much worse than my current Smartphone, at this point it would just feel weird not to have it on me, and I could just use magic like Colin Creevy did, so it worky by magc instead of electricity and functions at Hogwarts.

Also I would totally use the muggle world to make money with my future knowledge, there is no need to endanger the statute of secrecy when I can just buy bitcoin(when I was eleven a single bitcoin didn't even cost a cent).

Overall I guess I would keep somewhat in touch with muggle media, much less than I normally did, but I suppose I would still use my phonse to listen to music and watch some of the more successfull movies in teh cinema.

When I turn 17 though I would use my new fortune to introduce magical version of Smartphones to the wizarding world, and try to set up something similar to the internet. I would just miss the ability to just immidiatly look up everything I want to know.

 

Sorry, how do you get an iPhone to work by magic when you're 11? And also, what magic that Creevey did are you referring to?

 

Colin Creevy had a muggle camera that worked through batteries, to make it work at Hogwarts he adapted it so that it works by magic instead. Since he was only 11 I doubt I would face much difficulty.

It's from the FAQ on Rowlings old website.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090726082846/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly

 

One of the things the movies did 'right' from my perspective was having Colin using an older manual-focus camera. No electricity required- it was mechanical for focus, snapshot, and film advance, and used chemistry for developing the pictures. Only the flash would need enchantment, and those might be purchasable in Diagon Alley


As for the prompt of the thread, I'd be insanely curious to see how magic's existence affected mundane events (if at all). Don't know if I'd interfere with history unless I could find a good reason to do so. Some tragedies seem necessary for society to acknowledge the underlying problems that caused them and then try to address them. On the other hand, why bother with time travel if you aren't willing to tinker?

 

Yeah, I'd always assumed his dad bought him a wizard camera when he went to Diagon Alley. Bit weird to think that an 11 year old with no skill could enchant a muggle camera to work...but ok, its as canon as anything else she's said. So either Creevey is a magical prodigy that goes unnoticed in the books, or some magic is super fucking easy.

 

Or you can buy "magic batteries" that you can stick into Muggle devices in Diagon Alley.

 

If I remember correctly it was a muggle camera, because Colin was told that he could develop the film in a magical liquid instead of whatever we'd normally use, and that's what would make the pictures move. He was very excited about it.

I'd try to keep up with both worlds, too. I do wonder if everything muggle would lose its charm after experiencing the wizarding world. I was around 10 when computers were becoming a thing you'd have in your home, and I think I was 11 when I got my first mobile phone as well. I reckon I might not have learned to use it properly if I'd been shipped off to Hogwarts just then, I'd be like my grandmother is now, unable to find where the missed calls button is and taking half an hour to send a text.

 

Fuck it, go go go, give up everything muggle.

I would use magical remedies on my family and visit them every now and then but that would be my whole interaction with muggle world.

 

The sheer amount of creative media produced by muggles is hard to pass up.

I've been plugged in to computers and video games since I was 6, so it'd be hard to separate my 11 year old self from gamer life. I'd still have clocked in a respectable amount of hours on Pokemon and Starcraft before attending Hogwarts.

Skyrim might feel a little quaint being an actual wizard, but that just means I'd have slightly more incentive to mod the everloving shit out of it and double down on stealth archery.

There's also what, 2 bands, in all of Wizarding Britain? Fuck that. Give me an apparition license and I'll pop over to all the live shows.

If anything, I'd use magic to engage more with the muggle world.

 

No, I'd turn down Hogwarts. I loathe the idea of a boarding school in the first place, but having to be a teenager with no access to music (most importantly), movies, TV, videogames, or even just books (other than whatever the magical world has to offer) would be fucking awful.

Plus, assuming I've still read the books, then I know that the school is a horribly run death trap where rich purebloods can practically get away with murder and as a muggleborn, I'd be at a really big disadvantage.

 

You'd genuinely turn down magic in exchange for muggle music, movies, TV, videogames, and muggle books? Really?

 

I’ll refrain from turning this into “what would I do if I time-travelled and kept all my memories.”

My parents would never let me go to Hogwarts or an overseas boarding school. They would miss me too much. However, they would probably let me go to a Vancouver-based magic school that has a commuter program.

I would 100% ignore the muggle world outside my family during my schooling. What would I be missing in the 2000s? I’ve already experienced all of it. I’d probably spend a summer investing in Bitcoin, but that’s about it. Once I graduate, then I’d either continue in the magical world with a computer and TV in my home, or I’d go to a muggle university, if I felt like doing that instead. I’m sure there are programs for muggleborns with magical educations.

 

I'd either find a tutor or skip it, yes. Boarding school is a horrifying idea to me-- I am really anti-social & being forced to be around the same damn kids 24 hours a day would drive me insane. And having to go through puberty again while cooped up there without any entertainment would also drive me insane.